The 0-2 Bengals, huh?

Well, that will be interesting.

zn wrote:

Barstool Gambling@stoolgambling

If you had 49ers -7.5 Rams chose to kick a field goal down 10 as time expires to cover the spread

,

Allen Sales@AllenSales

Point differentials matter. Especially in a Divisional Game. They use it for tie breakers at the end of the season for playoff seeding. Chargers missed the playoffs in 2021 because of this. You take the points here.

Lemme say this about that.

A couple radio talkers on my way to work this morning where scratching their heads, and calling the FG weird, etc., and of course, it screwed some gamblers. Okay. The thing is that if McVay had called some play that had actually resulted in a TD, nobody would be saying anything. You throw a Hail Mary, and score. It blows the spread, too, but nobody woulda thought it was “weird.”

Why?

A TD would have been equally futile. Nothing would have been gained, except stats. So why throw a Hail Mary in that situation? Why not just kneel?

Because ending with a score is fighting to the last second, and that’s what you do.

So the reason is exactly the same, only the FG is a much higher probability of scoring. It may make even MORE logical sense to go for a FG in that situation than to throw a Hail Mary as the clock runs out.

zn wrote:

Since Sunday Ticket is now on youtube, I can use the laptop to watch NFL games while cooking. Today I have a bunch of things I have to cook and freeze (diabetes 2 diet management). But I do it with a game on. My game is Detroit/Seattle. Detroit is looking really good. Goff is in a perfect situation for his skill set.

I thought the youtube subscription was just for the Rams, or maybe they have different packages? I don’t remember. I signed up back in May, I think, and I have forgotten the details, and I haven’t used it yet, since both games were on my TV antenna here.

Found this nugget in a weekend preview article:

“Lions quarterback Jared Goff hasn’t thrown an interception in 359 passes, the third-longest streak in league history.”

wv wrote:

Yall probly seen this, but here it is:

The thing that makes this worse is that it’s unlikely that there were any people in the audience, or in that economic class at all, who would find his comments disturbing.

Mackeyser wrote:

Zooey, I saw the movie, Click… you don’t wanna do that… you’ll be an old Adam Sandler with tons of regret and divorced from Kate Beckinsale Patience, young padawan…

I wouldn’t take that advice from anyone but you, Mac.

NoCal radio blabber laughed hard genuinely yesterday when he was asked if the Rams could pull off an upset of the 9ers.

He said he watched the game Monday, and thought Seattle imploded. Then he cited several (of the usual) reasons why the Rams are terrible, and said that the 9ers will cover the spread even if they are complacent, and blow them out if they are not.

All of which kinda feels true to me.

But then he said, “The Rams are 3 or 4 years away from being competitive” and that’s where he lost me. Cuz…how does that pencil out? Either he thinks Stafford will still be productive 3 or 4 years from now – which would be unusual among your standard-issue radio blabbers – or he (more likely) has no understanding of what the Rams are doing, and where they are in the process.

All of which is why listening to anybody other than Rams beat reporters is a waste of time.

canadaram wrote:

The third down offense was great vs. Seattle, but it had to be great because the running game on first and second down was not good. I don’t see the Rams offense being able to pull that off versus the Niners and I don’t expect the running game to find its legs against that beast of a defense. Finally I expect the Rams lack of size on the defensive front to be a prominent story this Sunday.

I agree with all of that. I can’t see the Rams accomplishing much on the ground. I expect most rushing plays to end within 3 yards of the LOS. SFO allowed 3.4 yds/attempt last season. If the Rams can do better than that, I will be happy, but I don’t expect it.

And on the other side, as you said, I’m not sure the Rams can stop SFO.

We are definitely going to learn a lot this week.

zn wrote:

I don’t know if this is overreaction or maybe just close to the truth. Considering the youth of this team, I believe they bought into the hype what this team COULD BE and went straight to buying in without doing the work. Add in the terrible horrible bad Rams team and they all or enough of them chocked this up as an automatic win.

This may still turn out to be true.

But those throws and catches were real. Stafford is healthy, and Nakua is real, and Tutu is at least useful as a gadget, and could be more than that.

The defense and OL could have benefited from Seattle complacency.

Shanahan will have Frisco ready.

Let’s go ahead and fast-forward to Sunday because there isn’t much in the week ahead that interests me.

Gonna get a chance to show us what he’s made of next weekend.

Rookie LG Steve Avila (OG1) was a legit difference-maker in Week 1 with his ability to anchor, set a firm pocket, recover and generate movement in the run game. Really nice debut. pic.twitter.com/WMrjnoTnEM

— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) September 11, 2023

Pakua Nuka was the biggest surprise to me. He didn’t just have a big day; he showed me that he is a special player along the lines of Kupp. Excellent footwork, taking the right angles, good hands, elusiveness after the catch, and tough to bring down. Played with energy and enthusiasm. I don’t think that was a fluke. This guy is a real player, and another draft steal. He looked a little lost on blocking a couple of times, but it’s hard to tell in real time, and I’m not a tape guy. But he went a long way in easing my concerns about the WR position. I sure hope to see him paired with Kupp ASAP. That is a WR tandem I wanna watch.

Kendrick looked bad a couple of times, but I’m not ready to demote him. I dunno. I saw Jalen Ramsey get embarrassed more than a handful of times, and he’s one of the best. Those are grown-ass receivers out there that play in the big leagues. It’s gonna happen. So I dunno.

The OL did its job. It will certainly get run through a crucible next week, so there’s a big test coming up, but I don’t know how you could expect a better performance than zero sacks. OL continuity is obviously the key to keeping Stafford healthy, so yesterday was a good sign.

Atwell got open and made some plays. Nice to see. I don’t know what it means, though. He might end up being a Hakim type of guy. Not a steady, every down kind of player, but good for some explosive plays now and then, and that’s a guy worth having. Van Jefferson is still a big, solid guy, and I think that terrible drop yesterday is not characteristic of him, but he isn’t making a case for another contract with this team. Lots of football left, obviously.

The defense did some bending in the first half, but when you give up scores on the first four drives, and that totals 13 points, well…that damage didn’t sink the ship. The second half will stick in the craw of Seahawks fans for a long time. Seattle is just sick about that game, and that gets a 10/10 on the Hilarity Scale. They had high, high hopes going into this season only to have the Rams – the RAMS – come into Seattle and spill their guts out like a Pike Place fishmonger.

But Week One belonged to Paco Nunchucks.

zn wrote:

I suspect this year will be very up and down. Either way, on paper SF outmatches them. SF as we know has always had McVay’s number, so this is a much sterner test.

Yeah, I agree with all of that.

And if I had to bet, I would take the 49ers -7. As fun as yesterday was, I expect next week to be another in a long list of beatdowns at the hands of the 49ers.

There is always hope.

As you pointed out, the Seahawks lost both OTs, and that certainly helped the Rams. They also lost Lockett. The Rams D did play well in the 2nd half, though, and it wasn’t just a Seattle implosion. Still, I have to wonder what a fully healthy SF will do to them. My guess is that they won’t settle for as many FGs. SF has far more in the skill department. And their defense is perhaps the best in the league.